The present invention broadly relates to controlled deflection rolls, also referred to in the art as rolls with bending compensation, and, more specifically, relates to a new and improved construction of a support or pressure element for such controlled deflection roll.
The support or pressure element is of the type comprising a substantially cylindrical piston section or portion intended to be guided in a substantially cylindrical bore of a stationary support, typically a stationary shaft, a contact or shoe section or portion intended to bear against the inner surface of a roll shell rotatable about the stationary support, and a contact or bearing surface in the form of a section of a cylindrical surface. At the contact or bearing surface there are formed at least three hydrostatic bearing pockets which are distributed in the manner of a multi-point support, the bearing pockets being connected by channels with a surface of the piston section located in a cylinder chamber or compartment of the related cylinder bore.
Such type pressure or support element has been disclosed, for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,044, granted Apr. 9, 1974. With this prior art construction of pressure or support element there are arranged in a segment-like fashion four pockets, and the throttle channels extend parallel to one another and to the axis of the piston section.
With this state-of-the-art construction there exists the drawback that in the case of system designs wherein the axes of the pressure elements are not vertical, there can be formed air cushions, which, owing to their elasticity, adversely effect the working behavior of the controlled delfection roll, especially its damping effect as concerns oscillations.